Angry scenes as planning committee approves 170 homes - four months after turning them down

Furious residents shouted their dismay as councillors approved a new 170-house estate in their village - four months after the same committee voted to turn it down.

The plan for the new homes off Oaks Road, Great Glen, was approved by Tuesday night’s Planning Committee, by just one vote.

More than 50 angry Great Glen residents left the meeting, some shouting ‘shame on you’, ‘you’ve ignored the people’ , ‘it’s a cowardly U-turn’ and ‘how do you sleep?’

After the decision, Great Glen parish council chairman Bill Glasper called the committee’s verdict “unbelievable” and “absolutely disastrous for the village”.

The scheme had come before councillors in March, when a majority voted to reject it.

But developers Miller Homes Ltd had already bypassed the council and gone straight to a planning appeal, because council planners took more than 13 weeks to reach a decision.

Hands Off Great Glen supported by the Great Glen Parish Council then put together a “strong case” to support the counci’s original decision, employing their own experts to oppose the Miller Homes scheme.

The hearing would have been in October, by which time the Great Glen Local Plan, which did not support the scheme, should also have been completed.

Perhaps “running scared” of a Planning Appeal, as ward councillor James Hallam suggested, Miller Homes went back to planners after “addressing council concerns” on archeology and landscape.

This time their scheme was approved, leaving Great Glen’s appeal plans in tatters and villagers seething.

A spokesperson for Miller Homes said: “Following the decision to approve the application for Oaks Road, we now look forward to working with Harborough District Council in carefully delivering a sensitive and high-quality residential development.”